Ramps attachable to the rear of a truck or similar vehicle are known in the art. For example, see U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,979,867; 5,156,432; 5,678,984; and 6,102,646, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. Unfortunately, conventional ramps are not particularly well-adapted for enabling multi-axle items such as power equipment, loading carts, and the like to board and exit the storage area of the vehicle. Many such ramps are made of expanded metal, which is not strong enough to support heavier equipment and is a very poor door if the equipment is intended to be stored full time. Other ramps use solid steel, but since a solid steel ramp is often too heavy for one person to operate, the ramp is split into two pieces that are raised and lowered separately.
In addition, conventional ramps are typically shaped undesirably and may cause rolling equipment to scrape the ramp or vehicle floor due to the acute angle that the ramp connects with the floor of the storage area. For example, if lawn equipment is being loaded or unloaded, the cutter deck may scrape the floor of the storage area as it enters or exits the ramp. To combat this problem, many ramp structures use what is known as a “dovetail” design, in which a desired angle is built into the ramp and or truck floor that decreases the angle at which the ramp structure contacts the storage floor. There is a problem with the typical location of these dovetails, however. If the dovetail is built outside of the truck storage area, the ramp then hangs off the dovetail and cannot be used as the door of the truck. If the dovetail is built inside the truck storage area, then it typically takes up too much space and dramatically reduces the storage area inside the truck.
Other designs have attempted to build the ramp long enough that the connection between the ramp and the floor creates a gentler angle for the equipment, however, such ramps may be too long to be useful as the door of the storage area unless the ramp is foldable in some way. (e.g. see U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,878,339 and 5,507,138, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference)
It is apparent from the above that there exists a need in the art for a more efficient ramp structure for enabling multi-axle items, such as self-propelled lawn mowers or similar equipment, to be driven into and off of a corresponding vehicle for transporting the same. There also exists a need in the art for such a ramp which also functions as the rear gate/door of such a vehicle.
It is a purpose of this invention to fulfill any and/or all of the above-described needs in the art, as well as other needs which will become apparent to the skilled artisan from the following detailed description of this invention.